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Read the following passage - AQA - A-Level Biology - Question 10 - 2021 - Paper 2
Question 10
Read the following passage. Lake Malawi in East Africa has more species of fish than any other lake in the world. Many of these species have evolved from a common a... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Read the following passage - AQA - A-Level Biology - Question 10 - 2021 - Paper 2
Step 1
Explain why.
Answer
The mark-release-recapture method can produce unreliable results in very large lakes due to:
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Low Recapture Rates: In large areas, marked fish may have lower chances of being recaptured, leading to inaccurate population estimates.
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Movement Patterns: Fish may migrate away from areas where they were initially marked, resulting in non-random distribution in the recapture phase.
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Sample Bias: If fish prefer certain habitats that are not equally sampled, the data collected may not represent the entire population.
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Inconsistent Marking: Marks may wear off or become indistinguishable over time, leading to an underestimation of the marked population.